One of the coolest experiences in my career has to be attending this year's RTX and being among veteran and cutting-edge animation talent. Part of that experience included exposure to Lastman, a French animated action series that tells the serialized story of Richard Aldana, a talented fighter who's a bit of a slacker, and his mentor, Dave. Lastman was teased during the convention and I'm happy to say it's now making its English-language debut this very week!
The anime-inspired series acts as a prequel to the comic written by Bastien Vivès and Balak and drawn by Vivès and Michaël Sanlaville. The animated adaptation aired in France in 2016, but Mondo Media is bringing all 26 15-minute episodes of the English dub exclusively to the VRV platform starting Friday, August 25th with new episodes airing weekly at 3pm ET. It's a must-watch for fans of anime and animation alike!
Check out the new teaser trailer for Lastman below:
Meet the young Richard Aldana, 10 years before he kicks everyone’s ass in the comic book Lastman. Follow his adventures over 26 episodes - a total of more than 5 hours of animation - full of fighting, gangsters, and paranormal activity!
Exciting, right? The art style is fantastic, the fight sequences are thrilling, and the mythology is really something else. I can’t say enough good things about it, at least from the first episode I was able to check out early. If you’re a fan of shows like Cowboy Bebop, definitely mark Lastman down as a must-watch series.
You can meet a few of the characters below to get better acquainted (via VRV):
RICHARD ALDANA
An insolent, solitary, 20-something amateur boxer, Richard is a force of nature. Inside and out of the ring, he is a wild animal; the Darwinian product of the hostile environment in his home city, Paxtown. Overnight, the lone wolf's world will become even more dangerous, as he has to protect a young girl pursued by an esoteric sect of bloodthirsty fanatics.[caption id="attachment_658044" align="alignright" width="320"]
Image via VRV[/caption]
SIRI
A sweetly innocent twelve-year-old girl, Siri's tranquil life at a boarding school in the lush countryside is shattered by devastating news. She has no choice but to follow a brute stranger into Paxtown, a shimmering metropolis filled with violence and corruption about which she knows absolutely nothing.[caption id="attachment_658043" align="alignright" width="226"]
Image via VRV[/caption]
DAVE MCKENZIE
The owner of the boxing gym where Richard has been squatting, Dave thinks his gym has a good chance of winning the FFFC, a trophy that Richard doesn’t really care about but that Dave really has a hankering to win. But under all the muscles and the mustache lie many secrets, secrets that could be the key to the many mysteries that lie at the heart of Lastman.[caption id="attachment_658042" align="alignright" width="226"]
Image via VRV[/caption]
RIZEL
A small-framed electrician in his public life, Rizel seems to be as human as anyone else. Androgynous and sickly, every gesture and every word seems to be both arduous and boring for him. Almost always wearing an expression of profound weariness, he seems to embody the dull existence of an unimportant citizen. But under these appearances lies a charismatic leader devoid of all morals.[caption id="attachment_658041" align="alignright" width="226"]
Image via VRV[/caption]
TOMIE KATANA
And then there’s Tomie, a fiery 18-year-old cover girl. She’s a talented singer, but got her big break modeling bikinis. Her manager, Milo Zlotis, bet the world on her, and is now heavily in debt to the mafia. But he intends to pay it off by helping destiny. He’s certain he’ll hit the jackpot.
